


What Happened to Gabe Ugliano?

by fandom_susceptible



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, He finds out about Gabe, Inspired By Tumblr, Paul-centric, Reflection on the Jackson family dynamic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 10:26:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11011563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_susceptible/pseuds/fandom_susceptible
Summary: Paul knew the Jacksons were strange.  Having a god in the family certainly did that.  But after marrying Sally and moving in, he couldn't shake the feeling something else in their lives had been very wrong.A trip to a museum tells him what it was.





	What Happened to Gabe Ugliano?

     Paul Blofis had married Sally Jackson knowing things were going to be strange. Even after the Battle of New York, it had taken him some time to completely adjust to the idea that his stepson's father was genuinely the god of the ocean.  Poseidon made things easier by remaining fairly distant, at least from him and Sally.  He had to respect the guy for that.

     He first noticed the scars on Sally's back and hips on their wedding night.  Something stopped him from commenting or asking her about them.  Maybe it was her obvious discomfort, or maybe some god or goddess was interfering.  He couldn't exactly preclude that with a demigod in the room down the hall.  So he said nothing, just smiling and going to sleep beside her.  It didn't take much to discern what caused the scars.

     The way Percy looked at him the next morning, with the wary, suspicious gaze he hadn't received from the teenager since before the Battle of New York, just confirmed it.  He still refrained from commenting.  It was obvious neither wanted to talk about it.

     Little things like these continued to catch his attention throughout the first months of their marriage.  He noticed Percy had scars that didn't seem to be from monsters - at least, not the Greek ones.  He took them both to a function for work; one of his coworkers asked about Sally's previous marriage.  He noticed her smile turn forced and Percy shoving his hands in his pockets with darkened sea-green eyes.  He changed the subject.  He noticed how when he got into a disagreement with Percy, Sally automatically tried to get between them.  And he wondered, what, exactly, had happened?

* * *

    It was a few weeks after the incident at work when the three of them went to a local museum of art.  As they walked through, he noticed a particularly ugly - but very realistic - statue of a man.  He took note of the artist.

     "Sally Jackson"

     Paul paused, glancing over at the Jacksons.  No.  He's seen Sally's attempts at sculpting before.  He loved her dearly but . . . she couldn't sculpt.  Certainly nothing like this.

     Percy was smiling at the statue, darker than he usually smiled.  He turned to his mother and asked, almost casually, but not quite, "Whatever happened to that head?" Paul hadn't seen his eyes this cold since the last time he'd seen Percy in battle.

     Sally smiled secretively, but didn't reply.

     Paul looked from one to the other, and finally chose to comment. "What head?"

     Percy's gaze slid from Sally to him.  The teen tilted his head and studied him, looking hard, for a moment.  He gave a grim smile.  After a minute he replied, tone very level, "Medusa's head."

     Paul looked back at the sculpture.  He thought of the scars on Sally's body.  The way Percy flinched when he'd first gone to touch him.  How wary the teen had been of him at first.  The way Sally stepped between them on the rare occasion he argued with either of them.  The way Percy's hand twitched for Riptide when he raised his voice, even if he wasn't angry.  It all fell into place.

     He turned to smile grimly at his wife. "It's a wonderful sculpture, Sally."


End file.
